Wednesday, February 20, 2008

I haven't gotten too much new writing done this month. I've been working, mostly, on the final edits of the last two Dark Staff books. #7 is already at the publisher. I am about half way through #8. After that, I'll do a quick run through Silky, and then a much harder work through the sequel to Silky.

But, you know -- it's been very satisfying work. I know I have a number of novels I need to do final edits on and get them out the door. I've been too busy to dedicate myself to the work -- or at least that's the excuse I use. Maybe I've only been too lazy.

This month reacquainted me with the fun of doing edits. I have been so busy (maybe) that I just hadn't applied myself to the work for far too long. Years? Nah, can't be that long. But I have not submitted much the last couple years, and I intend for that to stop. Vision, FM, DAZ and all the rest is fun -- but I am an author, and it's time to turn at least some of my focus back where it belongs.

I am going to have serious problems sending any packages out, of course. Russ has not been home since January 1. He should be home for one day this weekend, and then there is no telling when he will be able to get back again. The post office is too far away to walk to in either the very cold or the very hot weather -- and we don't get much of the 'comfortable' weather between.

So maybe I should turn back to my real, first love -- ebook publication. Ebook and small press -- there are a number of small press places on the web these days and who take electronic submissions. It may be time to stop hoarding novels and set them free!

Ugh. Sounds like a lot of work.

I did mention the possibility of lazy, right?

It has also been an incredibly cold winter. I have found that I don't do well in the cold. Once the temp drops below 15f, I have to go crawl into somewhere warm. I have been writing on my HP IPAQ that way, and really enjoying it, too.

And since the temperature right now is -2f, that's what I'm going to go do. I am nearly done with one short story, so that should work quite nicely tonight. Tomorrow it will be warmer (if you can call 20f warmer, but really -- yeah, it is.) I hope to get more done then.

Saturday, February 09, 2008

Yes, it has been a while again. I have been going through a lot of changes, as you can imagine, and dealing with far too many bouts of 'does it really matter' bad attitudes. I hope that I'll have less of those now that things are starting to look better. We are far closer to being caught up on our debts. Russ should be home next weekend for a couple days. It will have been six weeks since he was last home, so I am looking forward to seeing him.

We need to restock, but not nearly as badly as it looked a week ago. About that time we found that we can get two different places to deliver groceries to the door, just as soon as we get a little bit more worked out with the funds. That takes a good amount of pressure off of both of us. While supplies are low right now, I know that even if Russ can't make it back soon, it's all right. Even in winter.

I do wish spring would come soon, though. I know I'm wishing for it too early. After all there's often snow storms on my birthday (March). But still, at least temps up in the 20's would be nice! I don't like cold!

Writing?

Not nearly as much as I should be doing. I hope that I can get back into the swing of that soon, too. I've discovered something interesting -- my brain shuts down when it gets too cold. I just cannot work, and unfortunately we have had a very cold winter this year. (It's down to 5f tonight with wind chills going to drop down to -20 or so. I'll be heading to bed soon.)

There are two things I have been working on. The first is a short story called Trouble at the Three Fae Café. I had no idea where this story was going to go when I had my hero walk into a café along the border (The best food you can imagine! No zombies, ghouls or vampires served!). He and the few people there are now under siege. It is not a great story, but I've had fun writing it. And I've been writing most of it in bed, using the little note screen on my HP Pocket computer where I can actually handwrite the material. This has been all kinds of fun, to be honest. I can do it in bed with the covers pulled all the way up and stay nice and warm. And I haven't even minded retyping the stuff later.

The other material I'm working on is notes for Draw the Line. This is a very extensive, detailed new universe and the work for it has already been going on (not continuously!) for six months. I have more notes to type into my SuperNotecard program and I might do some of that tonight again.

I've also been editing books, which I should count as writing, of course. They're going well and I'll have new stuff coming out very soon, I think. I'm happy with all of it, and I now have the last of the Dark Staff books in hand so that series is going to be completed! Yay!

The work on the DAZ newsletter is getting easier, most of the time. That's also good and cuts back on the stress levels.

Actually, a lot of stuff has cut back on the stress levels. The first few weeks after Russ had left were pretty horrible, stress-wise. Holidays alone, house problems, etc. just wore me down. I'm finally past a lot of that initial gut-clinching worry about being so far from Russ for so long. It wasn't that I didn't think I could handle it on my own, it was just that there was so much going wrong all at once. It's calmer now all the way around. I hope it stays this way.

I also hope Russ finds a job in the area soon. He's not very happy either, of course. And seeing him only a couple days every six weeks is not going to be good, either. I keep hoping that something changes soon. I know enough to be grateful for the job that got us out of serious trouble, but I am still going to hope for better soon.

So, things are not horrible. I hope for some good changes soon. In the mean time, I'm trying to focus back on writing once more and stop messing around. It's time to get serious again!

Pages

Beware the Wrath of Bunny Hopper

Bunny always knew her family was odd, but she never realized how strange until she found herself joining her brothers in an ageless war against magic she never knew existed.

Resurrection: Chance and Change

When the captain's gambling finally caught up with him, two crewmembers, an enigmatic passenger and a local Port Rat on the run from trouble come up with a daring plan that may save them all . . . or kill them. How desperate are they?